1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication networks, and more specifically to a service selection gateway (SSG) which provides flexible support in billing for services accessed.
2. Related Art
Service selection gateways (SSG) generally refer to network switches/routers which allow a subscriber to selectively access various services on the Internet. In one common environment, an access provider (e.g., an internet service provider or a shop providing the subscriber terminals to access the services) controls the services a subscriber is permitted to access, and bills the subscriber for accessing/using the services.
A billing server is often used to maintain billing information related to various subscribers. In one approach referred to as a pre-paid model, the billing server keeps track of an amount a subscriber has pre-paid for accessing services. The billing server may, then send an access quota (usually as time or number of bytes) when a subscriber starts (potentially with/after appropriate authentication and authorization) accessing a service.
An SSG then controls access of the subscriber to the service according to the access quota received. For example, if the access quota specifies time, the user may be permitted access to the service for the corresponding amount of time. Alternatively, if the access quota specifies a number of bytes (hereafter “data volume”), that many bytes may be permitted to be transferred (sent and/or received) when accessing the services. Such approach(es) may be unsuitable in several environments/situations.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.